The prison state

Jason Kravitz from Atlanta, United States

Looks like the scene outside my house - barbed wire and red alert meters all over the place. Going to starbucks has become a chore :)

11 Sep 2005 3:49pm

Shuva from United States

I cannot corelate both but the picture is nice---and if I were Bush, I thibk I would hvave done the same thing.

11 Sep 2005 4:37pm

Nadege from Issy les moulineaux, Sweden

Very different picture of usually.
Good luck to have a coffe Jason.

11 Sep 2005 5:06pm

bfn from Gainesville, FL, United States

Thanks for this dramatic photo, and for this comment. (Curiously, we have noticed better coverage of US news in Australia, maybe NZ too, than in the US--less biased, more fact-based, not spun or bought by affluent partisans--of either party.) But if you were living here, you would find less an "atomosphere of fear" and more one of defiance and vengeance--without much clarity as to whom we should defy and against whom we should be vengeful. The ill-conceived, ill-planned, and ill-executed war in Iraq has not been waged against the anti-US terrorists of 9/11; in fact, we may have played into their hands. But it slaked many Americans' thirst for vengeance and defiance by creating an Enemy Over There that the administration mistakenly thought they could defeat easily (witness the premature declaration of victory), and it built up this horrible bipolarization within the US with which we now have to live. Maybe Katrina will teach us to see the poor and needy in our own country and the dangers that threaten the whole globe.
Sorry, didn't mean to go on and on. I appreciate the allegorical intent of your photo and its effectiveness, but I think what it should personify is not fear but vengeance.

12 Sep 2005 3:48am

Aaron Schmidt from Auckland, New Zealand

Thanks for your comments Ben. I do agree that vengeance plays a big role in the reasons behind the US "war on terror". My comments were based on the fact that when I was living in Atlanta in 2000-2001, I felt an atmosphere of fear, more so than any other country I've lived in. That's not to say that I was cowering under my bed covers all day but the general impression I received from people of authority was one of tyranny, like as if they were just waiting for you to make a mistake so that the punishment could begin. I also found that the American media maintained a very high level of fear, preaching everything from deadly tornados to killer spiders, day-in, day-out.

Having said all that, I just want to make it clear that every American I have ever spent time with or worked with has always been very kind and very friendly. For me, the problem lies with the Bush Administration and the American media, both of which promote ignorance over education, the negative over the positive.

12 Sep 2005 5:21am

Harlem from Canada

System of A Down say it pretty well in their song "Prison Song"

Prison Song

They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,

Following the rights movements
You clamped on with your iron fists,
Drugs became conveniently
Available for all the kids,
Following the rights movements
You clamped on with your iron fists,
Drugs became conveniently
Available for all the kids,

I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch,
Right here in Hollywood,

Nearly 2 million Americans are incarcerated
In the prison system,
Prison system of the U.S.

They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison, (for you and me to live in)
Another prison system,
Another prison system,
Another prison system. (for you and me to live in)

Minor drug offenders fill your prisons
You don't even flinch
All our taxes paying for your wars
Against the new non-rich,
Minor drug offenders fill your prisons
You don't even flinch
All our taxes paying for your wars
Against the new non-rich,

I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch,
Right here in Hollywood,

The percentage of Americans in the prison system
Prison system, has doubled since 1985,

They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison, (for you and me to live in)
Another prison system,
Another prison system,
Another prison system. (for you and me to live in)
For you and I, for you and I , for you and I.

They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
For you and me,
Oh baby, you and me.

All research and successful drug policy show
That treatment should be increased,
And law enforcement decreased,
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences,
All research and successful drug policy show
That treatment should be increased,
And law enforcement decreased,
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences.

Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world,
Drugs are now your global policy,
Now you police the globe,

I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch,
Right here in Hollywood,

Drug money is used to rig elections,
And train brutal corporate sponsored
Dictators around the world.

They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison, (for you and me to live in)
Another prison system,
Another prison system,
Another prison system. (for you and me to live in)
For you and I, for you and I , for you and I.
They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
They're trying to build a prison,
For you and me,
Oh baby, you and me.

12 Sep 2005 2:06pm

bfn from Byron, Georgia, United States

Oh yes. Yes, yes. The current administration, especially its political arm, tried to foster fear in 2001 as a way to consolidate their (at that time) shaky power. The media forgot how to ask questions. But the American people, generally speaking, are not/have not been fearful; some are angry, defiant, vengeful, esp. toward that Unseen Enemy. A recent poll here in Florida showed most respondents expressing a generalized fear of terrorists, but when asked if they feared a terrorist attack that would affect them, an overwhelming majority said no. Politically, they have been manipulated by Machiavellian maneuvers to fear Terrorism, but down in their hearts what we really fear ia another Andrew or Katrina--and those "different" people who were prevented by armed guards from walking across bridges to get themselves out of New Orleans.

However, we define those irrational polarizing emotions, your photograph certainly capures the idea--better than I can say it.

12 Sep 2005 3:33pm